Dance With Me
by XDracoMalfoysGirlX
Summary: Luna waits for Draco following the Yule Ball. She is the only one who can turn his night into a good one.


**A/N: For inlovewithlaughing one shot a day challenge**

**Pairing: Draco/Luna**

**Quote- Dance with me**

Dance With Me

Luna Lovegood sat quietly beside the window in the Ravenclaw common room her paint brush stroking against the canvass. She studied the night sky thoughtfully and decided that the blue she had used did not do it justice. It was a deep, midnight blue sky above her tonight, the peppering of silver stars glittering enticingly and Luna thought it was a very appropriate sky for tonight. Tonight was the Yule Ball.

Hogwarts hadn't had a Yule Ball in years, and unfortunately she was a year to young to attend on her own and no-one had thought to ask Loony Lovegood if she would like to go with them.

She would have politely refused all offers if there had been any. It wasn't that she didn't want to go because she did, she would have liked to see the Great Hall decked out in its Christmas finery and feast her eyes on the lovely dresses all the girls would be wearing; but if she was to go she wanted to go with_ him_. No –one else would do for her now, it always had to be him.

He was a year above her so he was there. He had been sulking about the stupid traditional dance he had to learn especially for the Ball, but he had gone; unfortunately not with her.

Luna understood the reason he had not invited her, he had told her of the reason; he had not held anything back from her. She liked that about him, liked that he could be so open with her. She supposed she was the one person he could be open with because she didn't judge him, he was what he was and if she didn't like it then she didn't have to be with him.

Luna sighed softly and dipped her paint brush into the water jar to clean it. She was not the only person in the common room and she knew the others would force themselves to stay awake to greet those returning from the Ball, they wanted the gossip straight away. They had stayed at Hogwarts because they always stayed behind at school over the Christmas holidays; she had stayed because he was here.

Time was getting on she realised stealing a glance at the clock, the Yule Ball would be over soon.

Packing up her paints and brushes, Luna carefully lifted the canvass from its resting place on the window and took everything upstairs to her dormitory to put away. She was a very neat person, everything had its place and therefore she was able to tell immediately when the Narlges had been along to move things.

Once she was satisfied that everything was in its proper place, Luna smoothed out the wrinkles on the bedspread and left the room again. She had a light tread and coupled with the fact that hardly anyone in her own house bothered with her, Luna was able to slip through the common room and out of the door without anyone noticing her.

She skipped through the castle corridors, partly for fun and partly to keep warm; it was a chilly Christmas night. She made her silent way down the stair case and skipped along the second floor corridor towards an empty room all the way down the far end. Hogwarts was a big place and probably had lots more rooms that were falling into disuse that she hadn't yet discovered. This one she liked though, it appeared to be an old classroom as the blackboard was still on the wall and there were some old posters about transfiguration on the wall too. Luna liked this classroom the best as it afforded a splendid view of the grounds from the window.

She went straight to the window now, climbing up onto the window seat and pressing her nose against the cold glass. There was a thin layer of frost covering the grounds, it sparkled in the weak light and the moon was a ghostly reflection on the surface of the Black Lake.

How long she sat there observing the night Luna wasn't totally certain, it probably hadn't been that long, but when she was waiting for him she seemed always to be stuck in the land where time stood still. The door behind her creaked quietly open and she turned in anticipation, a smile curling her lips when he walked in dressed in his finest dress robes.

"You look very handsome," she said approvingly.

"You think so?" Draco Malfoy glanced down at his front, he was glad she thought so.

Luna nodded. "Yes I do." She swung her legs over the sill and let them dangle freely. "Did you have a good time?"

Draco made a face. "As much as the next guy could with Parkinson droning on all night."

"Did she look pretty?"

Draco knew this was not Luna fishing for information, this was not Luna testing him and getting ready to fly into the air in a jealous rage if she didn't like his answer; this was merely Luna innocently asking after his night, a girls natural curiously about the outfits of another. "No," he said shortly. "She isn't pretty, is she?"

Luna clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "That's not very nice, Draco."

"Sometimes the truth isn't nice," Draco responded wisely.

"That's very true," she agreed with a nod. "I hope you didn't tell her that."

"Do I look stupid?" Draco frowned.

She laughed at that and looked at him with amused eyes. "How was it then?"

"Alright I suppose. The food was nice and the Weird Sisters were playing." It would have been a great night, one of the best of his life so far if she had been on his arm instead of Pansy Parkinson. But there was no way he could have shown up with Luna, his father would have had a fit to hear about it and Draco wasn't able to handle the behind the hand sniggers and whispered comments from his fellow students.

Luna was many things, bright, smart, capable, extremely pretty, sensitive, funny; but she would insist on being _strange_. Everyone said she was Loony, in fact that was her nickname, Loony Lovegood. Everyone made fun of her, except him, and he always had a scathing comment ready for anyone who dared to make fun of her in his presence. Draco always stood up for her in his own way; but he was not yet man enough to stand by her and publicly claim her for his own.

Her eyes brightened with interest at this. "Were they? I heard a rumour that Dumbledore had booked them. Were they good?"

"Yeah, they always are." He spoke from experience, it wasn't as if he hadn't been to see them countless times. They rather palled for him now, it wasn't a novelty to see them any more. He would have liked her to have seen them though and a little worm of guilt squirmed in his chest that he had denied her that by bowing to the pressure of his father and his peers.

She clasped her hands together for a moment and then let them drop to her knees. "Did you find the dance ok?" She knew he had been worried about doing it, he had practiced with her enough times to make sure he got it perfect. Draco was always afraid of making a public spectacle of himself.

Draco nodded and swept his cloak off his shoulders dropping it carelessly on the dusty desk beside him. "My night was fine, it was always going to be just fine and you know it," he said pointedly.

A pink blush touched her cheeks and she lowered her eyes to the floor. "That's nice of you to say, Draco."

"It's only the truth." Just because he didn't say the words outright didn't mean that Luna didn't understand him. She was smart enough to read between the lines and understand the importance of everything that he didn't say.

He had danced with Pansy Parkinson because it was expected of him, because he had to, but he had wished with every step he took that it was Luna he held in his arms and twirled about in the age old dance of the Yule Ball. He had danced with her of course, she had helped him practice and he had insisted on practicing even when he had it down pat because he got to dance it with her. Luna had a natural grace that Pansy did not possess, hell, he didn't even posses it, but she made him feel as though he did. When Draco danced with Luna everything else fell away and he just enjoyed the moment, just enjoyed being with her.

The memory of dancing with Luna had haunted him all night. His hands itched to hold her, his body itched to feel her move against him as she followed his lead and his lips itched to kiss her. Luna was always generous with her kisses, Draco _really_ liked that about her.

Draco had half heartedly hoped to put Luna to the back of his mind tonight and enjoy himself, after all, another Yule Ball wouldn't be seen in Hogwarts for years. But alas it was not to be so. Luna was there, floating behind his eyes, her soft voice whispering in his ear, her small hand a phantom in his. Draco ardently wished that he had taken Luna to the Ball with him. There wasn't much he could do about that now though, but he could attempt to make it up to her, as least a little.

She heard his feet cross the floor and suddenly there were two shiny black shoes in front of her. Luna looked up, Draco was holding a single white flower. "What's that?"

"Took it from one of the displays," Draco said, reaching out and tucking it carefully behind her ear.

"For me?" Her eyes sparkled.

"For you," Draco confirmed, his fingers trailed along her cheek brushing lightly against her lips. "I thought about you."

Luna smiled knowingly at him. "I missed you too."

It was always so useful that Luna knew exactly what he wanted to say even when he couldn't seem to form the words himself. Draco took her hands in his and gave her a little tug towards him. "Make my night a good one, dance with me, Luna."


End file.
